Mizzen Mast Rebuild, 2009
This project was completed March of 2009. This project was undertaken along with the Compression Post Repair project, and the Mizzen Mast Step Rebuild. All three projects were completed in March of 2009.
There were three reasons why this project was undertaken. The first reason was that the mizzen mast step had a broken piece on it, so the mast step needed to be replaced. This meant the mizzen mast had to be removed.
The second reason was that the mizzen mast needed to be painted, yet again. The Pettit Easypoxy paint just did not hold up. It chalked horribly. There were also some repairs that had to be done.
The third reason was that
the mizzen mast was doing its own bit of sinking. The mizzen
mast is stepped on the deck, but does not have an actual
compression post under the mast. The mizzen mast step
depends on the bulkhead between the aft cabin and the galley
on the port side, and the garage on the starboard side. The
bulkhead between the head and the aft cabin is on the
starboard side of the mast step.
I had noticed that the cabinet above the vanity in the aft cabin was starting to separate from the overhead. I gathered that this was caused by the mizzen mast step pushing down from the deck above. I also noticed water would puddle around the mast step, and knew this should not happen.
Since I was able to take down the mizzen mast on my own, with the main mast up, I decided to start this project in conjunction with the Compression Post Repair project. Because the sinking main mast repair was going to necessitate the main mast coming down, I knew I had to remove the mizzen mast first. I removed the mizzen mast from the boat about two weeks before I removed the main mast. The removal of the mizzen mast went very smooth, and the mast went into storage. While the mast was down, I not only planned to repair the step, I also planned to carry out other repairs to the mizzen mast.
I do not have any pictures of this particular lowering of the mizzen mast. I was constantly involved with the activity, and it was raining, so I did not get out the camera. Will I ever learn? I do have pictures of the mast on the ground. These show the chalking of the paint that was used. To see these pictures, click here.
While working on the mizzen mast step project, I also repainted the mast, did some welding on the mizzen mast, replaced the conduit inside the mast, and did some other small repairs.
Back in 2008, when I took the main and the mizzen masts down, I was considering powder coating the mast or painting it with Awlgrip epoxy paint. Awlgrip is a two part epoxy paint that will last a very long time. That is the good news. The bad news is that the paint is very difficult to apply and very expensive. In the end, I did not use the Awlgrip solution or the powder coat solution. I ended up using a very cheap solution, Krylon spray paint. Before deciding on how and what to do about application, I ran several experiments by applying the paint on the mizzen boom, applying two colors. We were considering painting the mast and boom a gold color, but finally went with our old favorite, green. One test was sanding the boom, not applying a primer coat, then applying the top coat. The second test was no sanding, no primer, and then applying the top coat. The last test was no sanding, applying primer, then applying the top coat. In the end, we did not see a huge difference in any of the results. We ended up with three coats of the top coat. Pictures follow.
This next section covers my welding disaster! I spent the day welding the newly fabricated aluminum fittings for the spreaders onto the main mast. The next day I went back to the shop and started on the mizzen boom. I wanted to weld up several unused holes in the boom. The first thing was to clean out the holes, so we were down to bare metal. Next I started welding in the holes. On the first hole, I could not get a puddle going and the hole just got bigger and bigger. I did not know what I was doing wrong. I had done so well the previous day, so now I was really confused. Then I figured it out - I was using a stainless rod to weld aluminum! I could not believe it!
Now it had to be fixed. I cut a nice square hole in the boom, then fabricated a piece to fit in the hole. I put an aluminum rod in the welder, and ... guess what ... I was able to weld the patch on the boom! I was able to get good welds all around. By the time I did the welding, and sanded it all down, you could not tell where the problem had been. The five-minute hole repair ended up taking all morning. I only have the picture of the hole, and not the finished product.
Main mast up 2-09, mizzen mast up 3-09
I do not have any pictures of painting the mizzen mast. I was able to get all of the holes filled in on the mizzen mast and boom. Using an aluminum rod to weld aluminum really helps that process!
When I put the original PVC conduit in the mizzen mast in 2003, I used 1 1/2" PVC pipe. I thought that would be as big as I would ever need. Wrong again!! When I put the two Southwest Wind Power wind turbines on the mizzen mast, I had to use #8 wire to wire them to the batteries. Those two runs of #8 wire used all the spare room in the conduit. I decided to put 2" PVC pipe inside the mast so I have spare room in case I need to run more wire in the mizzen mast. The exit at the bottom of the mast was a 1 1/2" fitting, so I had to weld on a new 2" fitting so the electrical wires could all exit the mast.
I did not have any major repairs to the mizzen mast, so I put together a paint booth in my shop, using several drop cloths and duct tape. I then painted the mizzen mast and boom using the Krylon spray paint. When the painting was finished, it was time to get the mizzen mast put back together
I had planned to do the mast raising on a weekend when there would be a lot of neighbors around whom I could enlist to help. We had put the main mast up the week before, and my good friend Jim had come down from Dallas to help. He also stayed and helped with the mizzen mast building and raising.
We moved the extrusion over to Watergate Yachting Center, just behind DREAM AWAY at old pier 4. We brought all of the parts, the new conduit, and all of the necessary wiring, over from the shop and put it in the work area we had set up behind DREAM AWAY.
Putting the mast back together seemed as if it would be a small project, but it took three of us a good full day-and-a-half to get it done. The most time consuming parts were the conduit and the electrical wiring. We had to fit the conduit into the mast and make sure holes were drilled at the proper places to allow the wires to exit the conduit. We then riveted the conduit to the mast. Now the fun really began. We ran the wires for the VHF radio, the AIS receiver, and the GPS receiver, to the top of the mast. The wires for the Southwest Wind Power wind turbines were next. The wires had to be run down the turbine mount, then into the top of the conduit, and out the conduit at the bottom of the mast.
The wires for the radar and the PA speaker were next, and the last wires were for the new spreader lights I was installing. Once all of the wires were run, the corresponding equipment had to be installed. This included the antennas at the top of the mast, the actual Southwest Wind Power wind turbines, the radar, the PA speaker, the spreaders, and the spreader lights. The radar reflector was also installed.
The last two items on the list were the running and standing rigging. The good news is that I had labeled all of the running and standing rigging when I took it off of the mast, which was over a year earlier!! The running rigging had to be run inside the mast because I made them all internal during the mast rebuild in 2003. I had previously taken apart all of the Norseman fittings, at both ends of the standing rigging, and repacked them with valve grease. This stuff is water resistant, so a very good choice for this application.
The following pictures show us hard at work on the mizzen mast. To see the raising of the mast, when we finished rebuilding it, see the Grand Erection of 2009.
